Bureau of Emergency Preparedness

The NBPD Bureau of Emergency Preparedness oversees a variety of specialty units within the city’s police department. These units include the Office of Homeland Security & Counter Terrorism, the Marine Unit, the K-9 Explosive Detection Unit, the Office of Emergency Management, and the Crisis Response Unit. All of these units play a critical role in ensuring the security and safety of the residents and visitors to the City of New Brunswick following the attacks of September 11th, 2001.

The City of New Brunswick falls directly between Philadelphia and New York City, and encompasses some of the busiest mass transit routes within the State of New Jersey. These include the NJ Transit Northeast Corridor, Coach USA/Suburban Transit Bus Line, the Route 18 and Route 1 corridors, and the New Jersey Turnpike. Considering the addition of two major hospitals, Rutgers University, and Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters, the City of New Brunswick sees hundreds and thousands of people traveling thorough and within the city on a daily basis. The Office of Homeland Security & Counter Terrorism monitors trends and analyzes intelligence within the New Brunswick community and into neighboring communities to provide the city’s police officers with the necessary information to protect these individuals and create and secure environment.

Marine Unit

The NBPD Marine Unit consists of highly trained officers specializing in marine and watercraft safety and enforcement. In an agreement with Middlesex County, the NBPD Marine Unit is tasked with patrolling all of the tidal waters within Middlesex County. The NBPD Marine Unit works closely with the Perth Amboy Police Marine Unit to accomplish these goals. The waters patrolled include the Raritan River, Raritan Bay, South River, Arthur Kill, Rahway River, and Morgan Creek. The NBPD utilizes a 24-foot SeaArk patrol boat powered by twin 200 horsepower Evinrude engines.

K-9 Explosive Detection Unit

The NBPD K-9 Explosive Detection Unit consists of an explosive detection canine named Odin. Odin is a Sable German Shepard trained to “sniff out” explosive materials. The K-9 Unit is used to search schools and other buildings in the event of bomb threats and other explosive related incidents.

Office of Emergency Management (OEM)

The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is tasked with overseeing all catastrophic incidents within the city, and coordinating the city’s resources including the police, fire, EMS, public works, and health department in the event of a major incident. In addition the OEM prepares and trains for responding to incidents which could potentially cripple the city. These include pandemics, floods, power failures, large fires, civil unrest, and terrorist attacks.